Internet of Threats

Introduction to cyber threats and basic internet security: What is malware? How to protect yourself from phishing? What can ransomware do to you? Easy answers on these vital questions.

The amount of information security incidents and internet crimes grows year per year. It is really hard to estimate the quantity of cyber attacks, because most users don’t report infections. According to cyber security experts, there were over one million web attacks against people each day in 2015. Frequently, an ordinary user has no idea about dangers that lurk in cyber space. They know even less as to how to protect themselves against web threats! SafeDNS has decided to make some FAQ about most widespread internet threats and basic rules of cyber security. So you can reduce risks of infection and protect your device and data.

About Phishing

If you’ve received an email, don’t be in a rush to click on links inside the message, even when it has an exciting notification that you’ve won a million. Do not open it! That is a typical phishing letter.

Phishing is the most widespread type of cyber attacks. To convince you that it’s a legitimate site hackers create a full-copy (or almost full) of the necessary web-page. It can be designed in the same manner and contain the same text and registration form. As a result, criminals could steal your personal and financial data if you don’t recognize the difference and log in on such a page. So, how to protect yourself from password stealing? The first thing is to be more careful and attentive: never open suspicious links and thoroughly verify the authenticity of all sites that you’re visiting. Also for more efficient protection you can use the SafeDNS filter to block access to phishing resourses.

What is Malware?

Malware is “Malicious software” - a special program that gains access to web-connected devices. There are many types of malware: trojan horses, viruses, worms, ransomware, back-doors, spyware, adware and others. Depending on its type malware may do significant harm to the operating system (OS) of your device, your software or even hardware, and also it can do damage to you!

Adware shows unwanted advertising in OS even with no internet connection;

In some cases, malware blocks access to anti-virus and anti-malware sites;

It uses computer’s resources to make DoS-attacks or to mine cryptocurrencies;

Certain types of malware can make money for its creators generating click-fraud;

Ransomware opens some kind of advertising windows (frequently, with porn content) that can’t be closed, except by paying to their creators;

Ransomware, the Most Common Type of Malware

The most widespread kind of malware - Ransomware - can cause considerable damage to your data and even hardware. The only thing that attackers want is to get money from you. To force you to pay them cybercriminals install blocking screens on your PC by means of malware. The most popular way to drain money from users is to make them afraid of something. Often a blocking screen contains an embarrassing porno image or warning text that your computer was blocked by the government and you’re accused of spreading child’s pornography and dealing with terrorists.

How to Protect from Malware?

Malware has a pretty swell ability to hide from users and anti-malware soft. Most popular anti-virus and anti-malware tools use real-time scanners to detect malware. SafeDNS offers another technology to protect you against internet threats. Our cloud-based service allows to detect malicious software by a machine-learning technology and correctly block such kind of resources. Learn more about our solutions!